Loosely coupled mass storage computer cluster

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus redundantly store data, in particular video data objects, in a distributed computer system having at least three processor systems, each processor system being connected in point to point two way channel interconnection with each other processor system. The data is stored in a redundant fashion both at the computer system level as well as the processor system level. Accordingly, the failure of a single processor does not adversely affect the integrity of the data. The computer system can also overlay a switching system connected in a ring fashion for providing a fault tolerance to the failure of a single connected processor system at the switch level. Accordingly, there results a fault tolerant data distribution system.

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.09/412,232, filed Oct. 5, 1999, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 08/991,278, filed Dec. 16, 1997, which issued asU.S. Pat. No. 5,996,089 on Nov. 30, 1999 and which is a divisionalapplication of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/547,565, filed Oct. 24,1995, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,862,312 on Jan. 19, 1999.

The invention relates generally to mass storage device interconnectionsand in particular, to a method and apparatus for increasing deliverybandwidth, providing fault tolerance, and input/output load balancing ina multiprocessor computer cluster.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Modern reliable computer systems require a large capacity mass storage,and large bandwidth access to that mass storage. While disk sizes haveincreased substantially, for example a typical personal computer todaycan be configured with over a gigabyte of storage, the bandwidthavailable to access the storage has improved, but not significantly.Thus, while large volumes of information can be stored, the rate atwhich the storage can be accessed has not generally changed in the pastfew years. In particular, considering the requirements of a digitalvideo system for the delivery of constant bit rate video streams such asMPEG-2 digital video streams, it is important to provide a highbandwidth to accommodate the data requirements of the digital videonetwork, for example an ATM OC-3 network interface.

While various methods have been employed to provide sufficientquantities of data in a reliable configuration, perhaps one of the morepopular, and least expensive, approaches is the use of RAID-5 stripingand parity techniques to organize data in a fault tolerant and efficientmanner. The RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) approach is welldescribed in the literature and has various levels of operation,including RAID-5, and the data organization can achieve data storage ina fault tolerant and load balanced manner.

In particular, RAID-5 provides that the stored data is spread amongthree or more disk drives, in a redundant manner, so that even if one ofthe disk drives fails, the data stored on the drive can be recovered inan efficient and error free manner from the other storage locations.This method also advantageously, using RAID-5 striping, makes use ofeach of the disk drives in relatively equal and substantially paralleloperations. Accordingly, if one has a six gigabyte cluster volume whichspans three disk drives, each disk drive would be responsible forservicing two gigabytes of the cluster volume. Each two gigabyte drivewould be comprised of one-third redundant information, to provide theredundant, and thus fault tolerant, operation required for the RAID-5approach.

Consider a processor reading a video data object from a local RAID-5array. In normal operation, using a RAID-5 approach, when the processorneeds to access a video data object which is spread across all of thedisk drives connected to the processor, the processor reads a portion ofthe video data object in a round robin fashion from each of the diskdrives. For example, a first 64 kilobyte block of the video data objectcan be stored and read on a first drive, the next 64 kilobyte blockbeing stored on the second drive, and so on. In addition, however, theparity check (actually an EXCLUSIVE-OR function), also a 64 kilobyteblock, is stored so that if there were n disk drives there would be oneparity block written for each n−1 blocks of data.

The processor reading the disk drives, however, is still “stuck” with arelatively narrow bandwidth. Accordingly, the amount of data which canbe read is limited by the bus to which the drives are connected. Forexample, a SCSI bus which, while providing substantial improvements overbuses from years ago, is still relatively slow compared to the needs ofvideo applications. Also, the use of a local RAID-5 controller cancombine the outputs of multiple local SCSI buses, but is subject to thefailure of the local processor. Such a failure eliminates access to allthe data.

Accordingly, objects of the invention are a method and apparatus havingimproved and increased mass storage read and write bandwidth (deliverybandwidth), operating using a reliable and fault tolerant protocol in anovel topology and enabling large quantities of data to be read andwritten in accordance with well known and accepted techniques. Otherobjects of the invention include a method and apparatus which isrelatively inexpensive, reliable, simple to build, and easy to maintain.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a method and apparatus for redundantly storingdata in a distributed computer system having at least three processorsystems, each processor system having at least one central processingunit and at least one mass storage sub-system. The method features thesteps of interconnecting each one of the processor systems in a point topoint two way channel interconnection with each other one of theprocessor systems and storing input data across the processor systemsaccording to a distributed, redundant storage process. Thereby, data isstored at each mass sub-storage system and some of a redundantrepresentation of the data is stored also at each processor mass storagesub-system.

In particular aspects of the invention, the method features storing dataacross the processor systems according to a RAID-5 process and, further,storing data within each processor system according to a RAID-5 process.

The method further features the step of reading data from the computersystem, in the absence of a failure of any of the processor systems,over respective ones of the data channel interconnections, whereby thereading step establishes a load balance across the processor systems. Inthe presence of a failure of one of the processor systems, the readingof data from the computer system features the steps of reading data fromeach non-failed processor system storing the data, and reading redundantdata from the non-failed processor systems in place of the data storedat the failed processor system. Thereafter, the needed data stored atthe failed processor system can be recreated using the redundant dataand the data read from the non-failed processor systems. In someembodiments of the invention, during the time when a failure hasoccurred at any processor system, the method may prevent the writing ofany data at any processor system until the failed processor system isbrought back on line.

In another aspect, the invention further features the limiting casewherein there are only two processor systems initially. In accordancewith this aspect of the invention, the system continues, in the absenceof a failure, to provide increased bandwidth by reading succeedingblocks of data from alternate processors in sequence; and, in thismanner, effects a load balancing and provides increased read bandwidthcompared to a typical so-called “mirrored” system. In a typical mirroredsystem, data is read from one processor only, the other processor actingas a backup. Thus, in accordance with the invention, data is read fromall of the processors thereby providing an increased read bandwidth andload balancing. As noted hereinafter, therefore, the two processorversion of the invention, while not providing all of the advantages ofthe system with a larger number of processors, does allow easyscalability to a processor system having greater capacity, lessoverhead, and greater bandwidth.

In various aspects of the storage step, the method, in some embodimentsof the invention wherein data storage is modelled at a disk abstractionlevel, feature either designating one processor system to effect allwrite functions for the computer system, designating one processor forallocating files for each data input and enabling all processor systemsto write input data to each of its associated and allocated files, orarbitrating write operations among the processor systems using adistributed lock manager.

In another aspect of the storage step, however, the data input is storedas named fragment files, or named files, in each processor system. Whenstored as named fragment files, or named files, they can be accessed andreconstructed, for example even when a process or system is added to thedistributed computer system. The system continues to deliver stored dataas an output stream even as the number of processor systems, networkinterfaces, and amount of storage is changed. This is possible becausethe method uses file names to distinguish, modulus “N”, data fragmentsfrom modulus “N+1” data fragments, even as these modulus “N+1” datafragments are created from the modulus “N” fragments. Further, themethod features the step of reconstructing a failed processor system byreconstructing only the data objects which were written while theprocessor system was in a failed state.

The distributed computer system in accordance with the invention has atleast three processor systems for redundantly storing data, eachprocessor system having at least one central processing unit and atleast one mass storage system. The distributed computer system featuresinterconnecting channels providing a point to point two way channelinterconnection from each one of the processor systems to each other oneof the processor systems, and a data storage controller at eachprocessor system. The controllers act to store data input at any one ofthe processor systems according to a distributed redundant storageprocess whereby data is stored at each of the computer processors andsome of a redundant representation of the data is stored also at each ofthe processors. In a preferred embodiment, the storage controllers storedata across the processing systems according to a RAID-5 process, andfurther, can store data at each processor system in its associated massstorage sub-system according to a RAID-5 process.

The apparatus of the invention further features a system in which thecontrollers read data from the computer system, in the absence of afailure of any processor system, so as to maintain and establish a loadbalance across the computer system. In the presence of a failure of oneof the processor systems, the controllers read data from each non-failedprocessor system storing the data (over the appropriate dedicatednetwork connection) and read redundant data from each non-failedprocessor system in place of the data stored at the failed processorsystem. The requesting processor system can then recreate the datastored at the failed processor using the read data and the redundantdata. In a preferred embodiment, an “external” processor can be employedto recreate the data stored at the failed processor, thereby preservingthe delivery bandwidth of the system even in the face of a failedprocessor.

In another aspect, the apparatus features a storage controller whichstores the input data as named fragment files, or named files, in thedistributed computer system.

The apparatus of the invention also relates to a redundant switch havingat least n interruptible inputs, n interrupting inputs, and n outputs.The redundant switch features n+1 switched systems, each switched systemhaving at least two control inputs, a first input, a second input, athird input, and a fourth input, and a first and a second output. Eachswitched system is connected at its second output to n interruptingsignal generator, n interrupting output of the associated signalgenerator being connected to the second input of the connected switchedsystem. The switched systems are interconnected in a ring structure sothat each switched system further has n interruptible input signalconnected to the first input, the second input of a first neighborswitched system in the ring being connected to the third input, theinterruptible input from the other neighbor switched system on the ringbeing connected to the fourth input, and each switched system havingswitching circuitry responsive to the control input for switching any ofits inputs to at least its first output and for connecting either of itsfirst and fourth inputs to its second output. The controller providesthe control signals to the control inputs of the switched system toenable the cross-bar operation.

In another aspect, the redundant switch has n+1 switched systems eachswitched system having at least two control inputs, four signal inputs,and two signal outputs. Each switched system is connected at one of itsoutputs to an associated interrupting signal generator and ninterrupting output of the associated signal generator is connected toan input of the connected switched system. The switched systems areinterconnected in a ring structure so that each switched system isconnected to a first and a second nearest neighbor. Each switched systemhas switching circuitry responsive to the control input for the switchedsystem for selectively switching its inputs to its outputs. A controllerprovides the control inputs to the switched systems to enable theswitched systems to effectively rotate signal switching functions oneposition in one or both directions around the ring. Thereby, a failedsignal generator can be bypassed and the signals on the n first outputscontinue uninterrupted.

In another aspect, the invention relates to a distributed data deliverysystem having at least three processor systems for redundantly storingdata, each processor system having at least one central processing unitand one mass storage system. Interconnecting data channels provide apoint to point, two way, channel interconnection from each one of theprocessor systems to each other one of the processor systems. A datastorage controller at each processor system stores data input from anyone of the processor systems according to a distributed, redundantstorage process whereby data is stored at each of the processor systemsand some of a redundant representation of the data is stored at each ofthe processors as well. A switching circuit having n interruptible inputports, at least n+1 interrupting input ports, and at least n+1 outputports, has n interruptible input signals connected to respective primaryprocessor systems, each primary processor system having an outputconnected to a respective interrupting input. A switching controller,connected to the switching circuit for selectively interrupting each ofthe n interruptible input ports with the signal information availablefrom a respective one of the processor systems, in the event of afailure at a processor, and using a previously unused processor systemin that process, causes the switching circuit to connect theinterruptible input port of the failed processor system to a differentprocessor system, and to replace the output of the failed processorsystem with the output of another processor system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will beapparent from the following drawings taken together with the descriptionof a particular embodiments in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an interconnected computer systemaccording to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a more detailed block diagram of a processor system accordingto the invention;

FIG. 3 is a table illustrating an index file in accordance with theinvention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the software architecture in accordancewith the invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates the cluster volume arrangement according to theinvention;

FIG. 6 describes the cluster volume HomeBlock format in accordance withthe invention;

FIG. 6A is a table defining the HomeBlock format of FIG. 6;

FIG. 6B shows a data object broken into a plurality of blocks;

FIG. 6C shows the relationship of a data object to its stored namedfragment files;

FIG. 6D is a table defining the header block of a named fragment fileaccording to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6E is a table defining the data object format of FIG. 6D;

FIG. 6F illustrates reading a video object from the cluster members;

FIG. 7 illustrates the data and parity organization for a data objectaccording to a RAID-5 striping protocol;

FIG. 8 is a table describing the terminology used in connection with theflow chart of FIG. 9;

FIGS. 9A-9C are flow charts for determining data and ParityBlocklocations according to the invention;

FIG. 10 illustrates a cluster volume both before and after reformattingin accordance with the invention;

FIG. 11 illustrates a 2n×n switch;

FIG. 12 illustrates n 2×1 switches in a circuit arrangement;

FIG. 13 illustrates a 2n×n system in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 14 is a more detailed block diagram of the switched system of FIG.13;

FIG. 15 illustrates a video system in a ring configuration accordancewith an alternate embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 16 illustrates, in more detail, the switched system of FIG. 15; and

FIG. 17 illustrates a truth table for the switched system of FIG. 16 inaccordance with the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED PARTICULAR EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, a redundant distributed computer system 10 has aplurality of processor systems 12 a, 12 b, 12 c, 12 d, 12 e, in theillustrated embodiment, which are interconnected by interconnectingchannels 14 a, 14 b, 14 c, . . . 14 j in a plurality of point to pointchannel interconnections. Thus, each processor system 12 is directlyconnected in a point to point connection to each other processor system.In other embodiments of the invention, more or less processor systemscan be used, although a practical upper limit may be between nine andthirteen and the lower limit is three. (As noted earlier, a twoprocessor system, can be used, to effect some of the advantages of theinvention; however, for purposes of description hereinafter, the threeor more processor embodiment will be detailed.)

Referring in more detail to each processor system 12, and referring toFIG. 2, each processor system 12 has a CPU 20 connecting, in theillustrated embodiment, to an internal data communications bus 22, towhich are connected at least a memory and communications controller 24and a mass memory storage unit 26. The mass storage unit typically has aplurality of disk drive units 28. Controller 24 is also connected to aplurality of channel interface units 30, each of which is connected to adifferent interconnecting channel 14 for establishing the point to pointcommunications with other processor systems through their respectivechannel interface units 30.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the interconnectingchannels 14 use a protocol running on Fast Ethernet datalink devices.This protocol provides a relatively high efficiency and enablescommunications between processors, in the illustrated embodiment, at abandwidth on the order of 100 megabits/sec. Accordingly, referring toFIG. 1, each processor 12, being connected to four interconnectingchannels, has a bandwidth to the external processor memories ofapproximately 400 megabits/sec. (less overhead), in addition to its owncapabilities with regard to its local mass storage 26.

In one particular application of the computer system illustrated in FIG.1, video input information and data is provided to one or more processorsystems 12 over external feedlines, for example, network feeds 32 whichrequire high bandwidth storage of the substantial data needed torepresent and store even small durations of video data (includingaudio). In particular, for example, one minute of video data can requiresixty-six megabytes of storage. Fortunately, the particular embodimentdescribed herein and displayed in FIG. 1 has substantial bandwidth toenable the video information to be distributed among the variousprocessor systems so that in a preferred embodiment of the invention thevideo data input to one of the processor systems 12 is actually storedalong many, and preferably all of the video processor systems 12.

In accordance with a particular embodiment of the invention, thecontrollers 24 of the processor systems 12 individually and collectivelyact to store data across the entire computer system 10 network in aredundant fashion so that if any one processor system 12 fails theremaining processor systems can nevertheless reconstruct all the dataavailable in the entire system. In addition, this approach, as will bedescribed in more detail below, provides, in the illustrated embodiment,load balancing across the various processing systems as well as enablingany one processor system requiring either to read or write data thecapability of a very large bandwidth memory communication channel.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, a RAID-5 architecture isimplemented, for the first time, at the system level to provide theredundancy, load balancing, and bandwidth necessary to meet theobjectives of the distributive computer system. In a particularapplication, assuming that video data is to be received by processorsystem 12 e on input line 30, the computer system 10 will have, beforereceipt of the data, allocated storage in each of the processor systemsin one of a plurality of different ways. In one method, but not thepreferred method which will be described hereinafter, a storage clustervolume having a specified capacity will be deployed among the processorsystems 12. For example, if the storage cluster volume was 10 gigabytes,in the embodiment of FIG. 1, each processor system would be responsiblefor servicing two gigabytes of the cluster volume for use not only foritself, but for the other processor systems or members of the cluster.

Under normal operating conditions therefore the systems will havepreestablished a protocol for both writing and reading data. Accordingto one protocol, the systems will have selected one system for writingof all data for the cluster volume. In another aspect of the invention,a distributed lock may be used to arbitrate write operations among theprocessor systems. In a third embodiment, one processor system canallocate files for each data input and thereafter enable each of theprocessor systems to write input data to its associated allocated files.

The cluster volume described above is a collection of logical diskblocks (some local and some remote) that are shared between clustermembers (the different processor systems of the cluster). In thisdesign, each cluster member has an instance of a file system running,and each node would have access to the entire set of logical blocks.While this solution works, it has several problems. First, only onesystem can write to the cluster volume; second, the integrity of thecluster volume has to be strictly managed; and third, changes to thefile system structure (the creation or deletion of files) has to bereplicated in each instance of the file system running on each clustermember.

Rather than use the cluster volume structure identified above, in apreferred embodiment of the invention, the cluster architecture providesaccess to data objects and named fragment files, much in the way a fileserver provides “files” to network clients. Since the cluster memberskeep their file system private and only export access to the dataobjects, each cluster member can read, write, or delete files from itslocal file system without disrupting the other members of the cluster.There is no significant penalty for this method and it reduces thecomplexity of the cluster software. Data objects are then fragmented andwritten to the members of a cluster using the RAID-5 striping and paritytechniques, allowing each individual data object to be read, recovered,or written independently of all other data objects. In addition, becauseall data objects are stored independently, only the data objects writtenwhile a cluster member is down need be recovered. In the cluster volumemethod, as will be described below, the entire local cluster volume hasto be reconstructed. The reconstruction of the entire cluster volume cantake anywhere from several hours to several days depending upon the sizeof a volume. When only the data objects are stored, only a small subsetof the data will need to be reconstructed if written during the timewhen a cluster member is down.

In order to achieve a redundant, and hence fault tolerant, storagesystem, each of the processors 12 is viewed, even though they exist atthe system level, in a RAID-5 context, with striping, as follows.Assuming that each processor writes in 64 kilobytes blocks, a firstblock will be sent to and written by processor 12 a, a second block byprocessor 12 b, a third block by processor 12 c, a fourth block byprocessor 12 d, and a fifth block, a redundancy block or ParityBlock byprocessor 12 e. In accordance with the RAID-5 approach, the redundancyblock or ParityBlock to be written by processor 12 e in its mass storagewill be the EXCLUSIVE-OR of the blocks sent to processors 12 a, 12 b, 12c, and 12 d. Clearly, other redundancy methods can be used includingvarious forms of, for example, Huffman coding and other redundant codingmethods so that not only may one failure of a processor be taken intoaccount but multiple processor failures can be taken into account. Thecost, of course, is increased processing in both the writing and perhapsreading of data. Further, and importantly, because each processor isconnected in a point to point two way connection to each otherprocessor, it is possible to write all five blocks of data substantiallyin parallel, thus making full use of the bandwidth available to thewriting controller and, at the same time, distributing substantiallyequally, the writing load across the entire computer system.

After the first four data blocks (and one redundancy block) have beenwritten, the next block of data (a DataBlock) can be written to, forexample, processor system 12 b, the sixth block to processor system 12c, the seventh block to processor system 12 d, and the eighth block toprocessor system 12 e. Then, the parity or redundancy block would bewritten in processor system 12 a. In accordance with this practice, eachof the redundant blocks would be written in a determined and roundrobin, rotating manner, in accordance with the RAID-5 processingprotocol. The location of the blocks is illustrated in FIG. 3. A shortalgorithm can be employed to determine the location of a particularblock, as described in more detail below.

Further, within each processor system itself, the processors can use aRAID-5 protocol, in its ordinary and well known sense, to store dataamong its plurality of disk drive devices 26 associated with thatprocessor. Thus, there is provided the novel circumstance of employingthe RAID-5 technology twice, both at the storage level as is well known,but also at the system level, which is new, to achieve a highreliability, lower cost, computer system.

The structure of FIG. 1 as described herein has a number of constraintsin order to maintain its proper functionality. First, each clustervolume must have at least three members. Second, a cluster cannotcontinue to operate, if it uses the RAID-5 protocol, if more than onecluster member should fail. (The use of other, more complex protocols,can relax, somewhat this constraint.) Third, it appears that a practicallimit, under current operating parameters, is nine to thirteen clustermembers. When more cluster members are employed, the point to pointwiring becomes progressively more difficult and expensive. Indeed, ninecluster members would require thirty-six interconnecting channels whilethirteen cluster volumes would have 78 interconnecting channels.

Referring now to FIG. 4, the major software components of a singleprocessor system 12 (also called a “cluster member”) include a portdriver 50, a class driver 52, a remote file provider 54 a local fileprovider 56, a file system 58 (SeaFile, FAT, NTFS), a SCSI driver 60, aRAID controller 62, a fast Ethernet adapter 64, and a SeaNet transport66.

The cluster architecture utilizes RAID-5 technology to build a faulttolerant distributed system. The data objects are stored as namedfragment files across the members of the cluster. Data objects arestriped (in accordance with RAID-5 protocol) and stored with parityinformation to allow a missing named fragment file to be reconstructedif a cluster member fails. This is described in more detail below.

In order to provide transparent data object access, a RAID port drivermasks the fact that the data object exists as a set of named fragmentfiles. It provides the multiplexing and demultiplexing services to mergethe named fragment files into a data object byte stream. The RAID portdriver registers as both a provider and a consumer. When the classdriver attempts to open a data object, it calls all the provider portdrivers in the system. Upon being called, the RAID port driver becomes aconsumer and uses the class driver to open each of the data fragmentsthat comprise the data object. Once a session has been established toeach of the named fragment files, that is, once access has been providedto each named fragment file, the RAID port driver performs an open callback to notify the class driver that the data object is available.

In the particular application of accessing the data (video) objects, theport driver accesses the data (video) objects stored on the cluster. Thevideo named fragment files are read or written using RAID-5 methods fromthe local and remote providers. It masks other port drivers (forexample, video decoders or ATM links) from any failures, since it willreconstruct missing data fragments in real time. The remote fileprovider represents any third party application or device driver thatmight use the cluster technology. Examples include Lotus Notes, medicalapplications, or database systems. The on-disk structure of the clustervolume (file system 54) can be either NTFS, FAT, SeaFile or raw diskaccess, in the illustrated embodiment. The file system component isresponsible for storing and retrieving the named fragment files.

The Transport component 66 provides an efficient network service toother cluster members. It detects and reports failures in real-time tothe RAID driver. The fast Ethernet Adapter provides a 100 Mb/second fullduplex link between each cluster member through interface units 30. TheSCSI driver, for example a DAC960, provides access to local disk storageand allows the cluster RAID driver to read or write data for local filesystem managers.

A RAID controller provides efficient access to the named fragment files.The local portion of a data object is read or written by the RAIDcontroller. The RAID controlled volume can be configured, to either aRAID-0, RAID-1, RAID-5, RAID-6 or RAID-7 level in the illustratedembodiment, and as noted above, configuring a volume in a RAID-5protocol allows a cluster member to continue even when a single diskfails to perform properly.

As described above, when cluster volumes are used, a cluster volume is alogical disk volume that spans multiple cluster members or processorsystems. Considering a specific application, such as the storage andretrieval of video data objects, the design principal for a clustervolume is to utilize a fraction of each processor system memory for eachvideo stream thus creating a balanced and scalable system. Since thevideo data stored in the cluster volumes is mission critical, theintegrity of the cluster volume must be carefully maintained.Accordingly, a set of checks are used to ensure that the cluster membersagree on a consistent view of the cluster volume and that only onecluster member writes to the cluster volume.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, and referring to FIG. 5,each cluster member of a cluster volume that is, each processor system12, maintains and verifies its cluster volume “HomeBlock” to ensure theintegrity of the cluster volume. When a cluster member processor systemboots, it checks the cluster volume HomeBlock incarnation and volumeidentifier against the other cluster member processor systems HomeBlocksto ensure that the cluster volume was not modified while it was down. Ifthe cluster volume was modified, a rebuild process can repair the out ofdate cluster member.

Accordingly, therefore, each cluster member 35, in the illustratedembodiment of the invention, has one cluster volume HomeBlock 37 foreach cluster volume. Referring to FIGS. 6 and 6A, the various offsetsand byte identifications are detailed for the preferred embodiment ofthe invention. The cluster volumes are organized using the RAID-5protocol across the processor systems which are the members of thecluster. (Note that a cluster volume need not extend across allprocessors 12 of the system 10, but must extend across at least threeprocessors, or two if mirroring is permitted.) The controllers organizethe data and the writing controller writes blocks of data in a roundrobin fashion, as described above, across the cluster membersparticipating in the cluster volume.

As noted above, in the preferred embodiment, data objects are employed.Each data object in this system is stored as a set of named fragmentfiles. Each fragment file contains a header block that allows the namedfragment file to be self describing. Data objects are fragmented whenthey are written to the cluster. FIGS. 6B and 6C illustrate therelationship of a data object to its named fragment files. Asillustrated, a fragment file written on any individual cluster memberincludes the named fragment header and the plurality of blockscomprising the fragment file. In the example, the data object isfragmented into three files.

The amount of data in a block is called the volume stripe size. In theillustrated embodiment of the invention the default stripe size is 64kilobytes. In addition to striping, the RAID-5 protocol uses aParityBlock to recover from a single fault. The ParityBlock is writtenfor every n minus 1 blocks where n is the number of cluster processorsystem members. This technique, as noted above, thus allows for thereconstruction of the cluster volume data when any one cluster memberfails. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, parity blocks arecreated by EXCLUSIVE-OR'ing the n−1 DataBlocks forming a stripe level.For the preferred embodiment of the invention, wherein data is stored asdata objects, FIG. 6D describes the named fragment file header format.As noted above, the header block describes the content of the fragment.FIG. 6E describes, in table form, the particular components of theheader for one particular embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6F illustrates reading the DataBlocks of a single video objectspread across the members of a cluster. To play this video object, acluster member opens each named fragment file and reads the first blockfrom cluster member 0, for example, the second block from cluster member1, and the third block, assuming no parity block, from cluster member 2.At this point the read process would cycle back to cluster member 0. Thecomplexity of this process is hidden, as noted above, from the consumerby the RAID port driver. Since, in the above description, the parityblocks which are stored with the named fragment files were ignored, infact when the video data object is read the parity blocks are skippedand only the actual data is read. The organization of the parity blocksthus introduces an additional complexity which must be attended to. Theparity DataBlocks are also written, as noted above, in a round robinfashion to avoid a single set of disk heads from being left idle duringthe read process.

Accordingly, therefore, referring to FIG. 7, there is illustrated theorganization wherein parity blocks are stored in each named fragmentfile on each cluster member. During a failure, the blocks associatedwith a missing block are read to reconstruct the missing block. Forexample, if cluster member 2 were unavailable, and block 7 wasrequested, parity block 6|7 and block 6 would be read and EXCLUSIVE OR'dto generate the missing block. While it would certainly be possible todetermine the location of a DataBlock using tables, in a preferredembodiment of the invention a algorithmic process is preferred andoperates more quickly. In this illustrated embodiment, integerarithmetic is employed to locate data and parity blocks stored in namedfragment files.

Referring to FIG. 8, there is illustrated a list of the variables usedin a computer software program used to determine the location of ablock. A flow chart of the program will now be described in connectionwith FIG. 9A. Initially, at 300, the number of parity blocks is firstdetermined by dividing the block number to be located, by the clustersize minus 1. This, in essence, provides the number of parity blocks upto and but not including the row in which the block to be found resides.The division is integer division and the remainder is discarded. Thus,PBC provides the number of parity blocks up to and including the lastcomplete row of blocks. Next, the so-called adjusted block number is setequal to the total number of blocks which have been stored, includingthe parity blocks within complete rows, up to the block to be found.This is indicated at 302.

The optional parity block count is determined next. To determine whetherthe parity block, in the row of the block to be found, is located beforeor after the block to be located, a quantity ABN_(L), equal to the totalnumber of blocks modulo the number of cluster members squared, isgenerated at 364. The optional parity count is set to “zero” at 306,and, if ABN_(L) divided by the number of clusters is less than or equalto ABN_(L) modulo the number of clusters at 308, the optional paritycount is set to “one” at 310. A “zero” optional parity count indicatesthat the block is before the parity block in the row while a “one”optional parity count indicates that the block is after the parity blockof the row. This assumes that the parity is configured as described inFIG. 6C.

The final block number is then the adjusted block number plus the valueof OPC. This is indicated at 320. Then, the cluster member can becalculated by taking the final block number modulo the number ofclusters. This is indicated at 330. The local block number within thatcluster is then the final block number divided by the number ofclusters. This is indicated at 340. (Recall that the first block numberis zero.)

If a failure has occurred, the parity block number for the binary blocknumber must be determined. This is performed as illustrated below,referring to the flow chart of FIG. 9B. First, a parity block number isdetermined by multiplying the number of clusters by the integer portionof a division, the numerator of which is the final block number and thedenominator of which is the number of clusters. This is indicated at400. Next, the parity block offset within the repeating pattern isdetermined and added to the parity block number (PBN) previouslydetermined. This is accomplished by taking the final block number modulothe number of cluster members squared and dividing that number by thenumber of clusters. That value is then added to the parity block numberto obtain the final value of the parity block number. This is indicatedat 420.

It may also be necessary to locate the DataBlocks associated with aparity block. Referring to FIG. 9C, this is determined by finding therow in which the parity block number (PBN) is to be found. The row isdetermined by taking the integer value of the division of the parityblock number and the number of clusters and multiplying that value timesthe number of clusters. This is indicated at 430. The parity blocklocation is equal to the parity block number modulo the number ofcluster members squared, that quantity divided by the number of clustermembers. This is indicated at 440. The following subroutine (written inC) is then employed to determine the blocks associated with the parityblocks:

for (i=0; i<CS; i++) if (PBN_(row)+i !=PBN) FBN=PBN_(row)+i

If a cluster processor system member fails, the reading controller forthe data object implements the preceding steps to recover a missingDataBlock. The output of this operation yields the missing (failed)DataBlock.

When cluster volumes are employed, as noted above, the cluster volumemaster controls access to each block of the cluster volume. The computersystem 10 provides a protocol to determine the cluster volume master foreach volume. Each cluster volume, in the illustrated and preferredembodiment, is controlled by a different processor system member (to theextent possible) to distribute the write load across all of the clustermembers. When a cluster volume master detects that a cluster processorsystem member has failed, it instructs the remaining cluster members toadvance the cluster volume incarnation (in the HomeBlock) and to clearthe cluster volume “dirty bit” in the cluster volume state. The nextwrite operation to the cluster volume will cause the dirty bit to beset, indicating that the failed cluster member must execute a rebuildingprocess before it can rejoin the cluster volume. If the implementedcluster protocol prevents a write to the cluster volume while a clustermember is in a failed state, the failed member may not need to rebuild.

The cluster volume does not have to be write locked during therebuilding operation. Write operations to already rebuilt DataBlockssimply update the DataBlock. Write operations to DataBlocks not yetrebuilt can simply be ignored and they will be reconstructed at a latertime. Special care however is required when handling a write operationfor the current DataBlock being reconstructed. In this case,reconstruction should be completed and the write operation should beexecuted after, and only after, the reconstructed data is written.

On the other hand, when the system operates upon data objects, thesystem can continue to operate, modifying data objects as necessary.When the failed member has been restored, it executes a rebuildingprocess only for the data objects which have been changed. The remainingobjects are not affected. In this way, even during a failure, writingcan continue to be implemented and the failure becomes transparent tothe user or consumer. Importantly, also, since the rebuilding occursobject by object, it can be done at a more leisurely pace since not allof a cluster volume will be adversely affected by writing any of filewithin the volume.

Once a cluster processor system member has failed, the failure of anyother cluster processor system member will cause the cluster volume tobecome unreadable in this illustrated embodiment. Only after the failedcluster member has been reconstructed, therefore, can another failure behandled for this embodiment of the invention. However, as noted above,in other embodiments of the invention, two or even more failures couldbe handled, however, more complex, and hence more lengthy reconstructionand encryption processes would need to be employed.

When expansion of a cluster is required, for example when clustervolumes become full or when the capacity of the cluster needs to beincreased, the method and apparatus of the invention provide a processfor increasing the storage capacity “on line”. For example, to addstorage to a cluster, disk drives are added to each cluster member (thatis, each processor system 12) and a new cluster volume or new dataobjects can be created. This is a simple operation and the existingcluster volumes or data objects remain fault tolerant during theupgrade. Cluster members may have to be rebooted however in order to“see” (that is, recognize) the new disk drives.

However, the method and apparatus of the invention can further providefor the addition of a new cluster processor system (and its associatedstorage) during operation. This is a much more complex operation and canproceed as follows.

The new cluster processor system member is inserted into the cluster bynetworking the new cluster member to each of the original clusterprocessor system members 12 as illustrated in FIG. 1. Each clustervolume is then “write locked” so that writing to any portion of thevolume is not allowed. Each cluster volume is reformatted by initiatinga change in the current cluster volume format to a new format. Thisoperation is in essence a translation from an n member cluster volume toan n+1 member cluster volume. Each DataBlock is read and rewritten, newParityBlocks are generated, and the progress is check-pointed in case asystem failure occurs during the reformatting operation. The size of anyone cluster volume is not increased by this operation; rather, eachlocal cluster volume size is decreased and the residual disk space fromthe operation can be configured into yet additional cluster volume(s).Finally, as cluster volume reformatting is completed, the “write lock”is removed from the cluster volume. Referring to FIG. 10 in a typicalsystem, the various sizes of the cluster volume within each of thecluster processor system members is illustrated both before and afterreformatting.

When a new cluster member is added to a system wherein the format of thestored data is in data objects, the existing data objects need to berefragmented from n named fragment files to n+1 named fragment files.This operation can occur as a background activity allowing access to theoriginal data object until the new named fragment files have beencreated. Once the new fragment files exist the old fragment files can bedeleted. This process takes place, therefore, at “leisure” and at notime is the named fragment unavailable for use.

Referring now to FIGS. 11-13, there is illustrated a switching systemuseful in conjunction with the structure of FIG. 1, and in which a faulttolerant operation provides resiliency and robustness, as well asrelatively low cost for the described system.

In a most general sense, in a video insertion system, to which theinvention is particularly applicable, it is desirable to have a 2n×ncross-bar system wherein any one of 2n inputs can be placed on any of noutputs. Such a cross-bar system 100, referring to FIG. 11, might have,for example, n (interruptible) network feeds 102 and n advertising orother interrupting feeds 104 which are to be used to selectively replacethe network feeds. Each of the n output selections 106 represents one ofthe network feeds which is switchably replaced, from time to time by oneof the interrupting feeds 104. The n outputs connect to output channelsfor transmission over, for example, a cable network.

A simpler approach, though less flexible and hence to some extent lessdesirable, is illustrated in FIG. 12 wherein the 2n×n switch 108 isreplaced by n two by one switches 110. In this configuration, a networkinput 112 is provided to each 2×1 switch 110 and an interrupting orother input 114 is also provided to each 2×1 switch 110. This systemworks well provided that none of the interrupting feeds is lost. (Theinterrupting feeds over lines 114 are typically generated by a processorsystem 12 and it is implicitly assumed that the network feeds arereliable and always present.) If an interrupting feed is lost, byfailure of a processor system 12, then the output over lines 116 will beincorrect since there is no provision for an alternate source of theinterrupting feed. In summary then, in a typical system, the networkfeeds over lines 112 are considered reliable and available at all times.Thus, it is only the interrupting feed over lines 114 which may fail.The interrupting feeds are typically provided by, for example, aprocessor system 12, and thus if the processor system 12 fails, there isno flexibility or robustness in the switches 110, as configured in FIG.12, (or even the crossbar switch provided in FIG. 11, since the failedsource cannot be replaced) to recover.

In accordance with the invention, however, a “spare” switched system isprovided which can be used to replace a failed interrupting feed in theFIG. 12 embodiment, in a robust and flexible manner. Thus, referring toFIG. 13, the invention provides a method and apparatus for compensatingfor a failed insertion feed from a system processor by providing acomplete spare system. The spare system interconnects with the activesystems in a ring structure, to create a robust and fault-tolerantsignal, for example video, delivery system. FIG. 13 illustrates alimited video delivery system in which there are two network feeds andtwo interrupting feeds generated by local processor systems. In otherembodiments more network interruptible and interrupting feeds can beused and the system can be accordingly scaled. The network feeds overlines 130 and 132, designated NET0 and NET1 are input to respectivevideo insertion and feed systems 134 and 136, respectively. Each videosystem has a processor system 138, 140 (these can be the same asprocessor systems 12 described in connection with FIG. 1) and a switchedsystem 142, 144 which is able to place, in a controlled manner, asdescribed below, ones of its four inputs, on its output lines.

The switched systems provide a network feed output signal on lines 146,148, designated as OUT0 and OUT1, respectively. In the illustratedembodiment, a spare video insertion and feed system 150, which has aprocessor system 152 and a switched system 154 mirroring theinterconnection of the processor system and switched system of videosystems 134 and 136, provides a fault tolerance under the conditionsdescribed below.

The processor systems 138, 140, and 152 are interconnected bypoint-to-point communications and operate in a manner, with respect toeach other, which is identical to that described for the larger computersystem illustrated in connection with FIG. 1. Thus, any processor system138, 140, 152 has access to the video stored by the other processorsystems, and the video is stored at the processor level preferablyaccording to a RAID-5 protocol. In the illustrated embodiment, the videoobjects are stored in a processor's local disk array also in accordancewith a RAID-5 protocol. Each processor system receives an output feed(typically a network feed) from its associated switched system overlines 160, 162, and 164 and provides n interrupting output in responseto the input feed, for example an advertisement, to its associatedswitched system over lines 166, 168, and 170. The signals carried overlines 160, 162, 164, 166, 168 and 170 are video signals as will bedescribed in more detail below.

The video systems 134, 136 and 150 are interconnected in a ringstructure through their switched systems. Thus, each switched systemprovides an output, labelled 172, 174, 176, which becomes an input to aneighboring video system in the ring configuration; and the networkinput line of video systems 134 and 136 is connected as another input tothat other neighboring switched system on the ring which, as describedabove, received an input signal from its other neighboring system. Thus,the NET1 input is provided to both switched system 144 and switchedsystem 142 while the NET0 input is provided to switched system 142 andswitched system 154. Outputs 173, 174, 176 are connected respectively asinputs to systems 144, 154, and 142. Each processor system alsoprovides, either from the processor itself or through an on-boardcontroller 12 a, typically controlled by the processor CPU, two switchcontrol signals as described in more detail below.

Referring now to FIG. 14, there is illustrated a preferred embodiment ofthe video system which allows, referring to the orientation of FIG. 13,the video systems to switch in a downward round robin direction (meaningthat spare video system 150 can replace the operation of video system134 should video system 134 or video system 136 fail). Thus, as notedabove, should video system 134 fail due to a processor failure (it isassumed that the switched system will not fail), the spare video system150 replaces it and provides the correct interrupting feed to theswitched system 142. Should the video system 136 fail due to a processorsystem failure, in a chain reaction, video system 134 will act toprovide the correct interrupting feed to switched system 144 and videosystem 150 will thereafter operate to provide the correct interruptingfeed to the switched system 142 of video system 134. This “downward”movement can be extended to a larger operating system having, forexample, nine network feeds in which case there would be the ninenetwork video systems like circuitry 134 plus a spare video systemcorresponding to system 150. In other embodiments, the ring can bereconfigured to move upward or as will be hereinafter described, theswitched systems can be structured so that the motion of the ring can bedirected in either the upward or downward direction as viewed in FIG.13. In this latter configuration, the interconnecting structure is morecomplex as will be described hereinafter.

Referring now to FIG. 14, in the illustrated embodiment, each switchedsystem of FIG. 13 has two multi-input single output controlled switchelements 190, 192. In FIG. 14, the reference numbers correspond to thereference numbers of FIG. 13 and, in particular, the illustrated videosystem 134.

In normal operation, the network feed over line 130 is directed to thedefault or number 1 position of each of switches 190 and 192. Thus, thesignal on line 130 is fed through switch 192 and is output over line146. Simultaneously that signal is also fed through switch 190 and isoutput over line 160 to the processor system 138. The processor system,analyzes the input signal and provides, over line 166, at the correcttime, an insert which interrupts the signal over line 130 and replacesit. This is effected by switch element 192 which changes the signal overline 146 from that connected at its number 1 position to that connectedat its number 3 position. (The controller (and control lines) forswitching the outputs of switches 190 and 192 have been omitted forclarity of presentation. However, each processor has two (or three)control lines for controlling the switching functions of its associatedswitch and at least one neighboring switch, depending upon whether thering will fail up, fail down, or optionally fail in either direction.The processors are further, preferably, interconnected through a furthercommunications line, such as an Ethernet bus, so that each processor isaware of the status, and actions, taken by each other processor. Thisallows an orderly compensation for a failed processor as describedherein.) When the insert (interrupting) video over line 166 ends, theswitch element 192 returns to its “default” number 1 position. Thus, innormal operation, switch 192, under the control of a controller,switches back and forth as processor system 138 generates the correctinterrupting video in accordance with the processor interconnectionsillustrated in FIG. 13 (as an example of a simpler version of the morecomplex system illustrated in FIG. 1).

If the processor 140, referring now to FIG. 13, of video system 136 wereto fail, the first step of the fault-tolerant system would provide thatthe video system of 134 would be modified so that it generates thenecessary insert video signals for switched system 144 and providesthose insert signals to switched system 144 over line 172. Accordingly,in this failure mode of operation, referring now also to FIG. 14, thenetwork feed for video system 136, that is NET1 over line 132, connectsto video system 134, is switched by switch element 190 of video system134 and is placed on the output of switch element 190, that is on line160. The processor system 138 in response to this new video generates aninsert video over line 166 which is also available over line 172. Thatinsert video signal is thus provided to the switched system 144 and itsswitch, which corresponds to switch 192 of switched system 142, thenconnects the input on its corresponding line input 4 to line 146, andoutputs it over line 146 as “OUT1”.

In this replacement process, however, video system 134 has lost use ofits processor system 138. It thus turns to the spare video system 150and its processor system 152 which, in combination with switched system154 provides the appropriate insert video over line 176 (along with thecorrect insert control signals). Switch 192, thus, at the correct time,switches to place the insert video available over line 176 at itsoutput, over line 146, to become OUT0. After the insert ends, switch 192returns to its default value to place NET0, its network input, at switchposition 1, as its output. In this manner, the video systems 134, 136,and 150 “cover” redundantly for each other so that a failure of oneprocessor system will not adversely affect operation of the deliverysystem.

This ringed redundancy operates not only because the switched systems142, 144, 154 are interconnected in a ring structure, but also becausethe processor systems themselves are interconnected and operate in aredundant fashion in accordance with the embodiment of FIG. 1. Thus,each processor system is capable of fully acquiring the necessary insertvideo objects stored redundantly in the collective system memory, forany of the network feeds.

The embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 13 and 14 fails in an “updirection”. By simply modifying the “neighboring connections” so that,for example, video system 136 provides its network input not to videosystem 134 but to spare video system 150 and accordingly provides itsoutput over line 174 not to spare video system 150 but to video system134, the system would fail in the reverse direction.

In a second particular embodiment of the video distribution system,there is provided a more complex video switched system which is capableof shifting “in either direction” in response to a failed system. Bythis is meant that the ring connection, depending upon the proximity ofthe failure to the spare, will fail either up or down to reduce the timedelay for correcting the failed situation. It will be seen, however,referring to FIGS. 13 and 14, that it is not necessary to use thissystem, but that single direction failure system will work substantiallyas well in most failure situations.

Accordingly, referring to FIGS. 15 and 16, there is illustrated a 3element ringed system which can fail in either direction. This systemoperates in a manner corresponding to that of the video delivery systemillustrated in connection with FIGS. 13 and 14, and accordingly, itsdetailed operation need not be described. The ringed system has twovideo systems 200 and 202, each of which has a video processor 204, 206,and a switched system 208, 210 respectively. In addition there is aspare video system 212 having a video processor 214 and a switchedsystem 216. (The point to point, two way, interconnecting channelsbetween the processors 204, 206, 214, and the processor controllers,have not been shown for purposes of more clearly illustrating the otherconnections in the figure.) In operation, if a failure occurs, thefailed system can be replaced by a shift upward by one closest “lower”neighbor or a shift downward by its other closest neighbor. Thedirection of the shift will depend primarily upon where the failureoccurred in the ring. Accordingly, the fewer shifts needed to achievefull operation of the video distribution system will determine thedirection of shift along the ring.

Independent of the direction of the shift, and referring to FIG. 15, theprocessor system 214 of the spare video processor 212 will, in thisillustrated embodiment, replace the processor system which has failed.The switch elements of the switched systems for the spare system and thefailed system will reconfigure the switches to provide the network inputfor the failed system to the spare system, which will provide thatnetwork input to its processor system. The video insert output of theprocessor system will then be routed through the spare switched systemto the switch system corresponding to the failed processor for delivery,at the correct time, to its output. When more than two input networkfeeds are used, a larger element ringed system can be employed, and, aswith the embodiment of FIGS. 13, and 14, the video systems will chainwith a first nearest neighbor replacing the failed processor and a nextsecond nearest neighbor then acting to replace the processor of thefirst nearest neighbor, etc., until the spare video system is used.

Referring to FIG. 16, a typical switched system has four multi-inputswitches 180, 182, 184, and 186 connected as illustrated in FIG. 16, inone particular embodiment of the invention, in order to enable theswitching described hereinabove to take place. Referring to FIG. 17,there is provided a truth table indicating, for each switch of FIG. 16,its status depending upon whether the switch is operating in a “normal”mode, in a failed-up mode, or a failed-down mode. The number within thematrix identifies, for a switch of FIG. 16, which input to direct to theoutput. (An “x” indicates a “don't care” condition.) For switch 4(reference number 186) the selected input depends upon whether theswitch is expected to place the interruptible input (“NO INSERT”) or theinterrupting input (“INSERT”) at its output port. As with the circuitryof FIGS. 13 and 14, the processor controller and the control lines toeach of the switches 180, 182, 184, and 186 are not detailed in order tobe able to understand better the operation of the system.

Additions, subtractions, and other modifications of the preferredembodiments of the invention will be apparent to those practiced in theart and are within the scope of following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of delivering video on demand to aplurality of simultaneous users comprising: asynchronously reading froma clustered video system a video object that is distributed across aplurality of video processor systems that comprise the clustered videosystem, the plurality of video processor systems each comprising a localstorage device and a video processor that executes a video applicationto access video information stored on the local storage device.
 2. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the clustered video system stores only asingle copy of the video object.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein thevideo object is stored in a redundant representation across theplurality of video processor systems.
 4. The method of claim 1 whereinthe video object is stored in a redundant fashion across the pluralityof video processor systems according to a RAID-5 protocol.
 5. The methodof claim 1 wherein the clustered video system can store a plurality ofunique video objects and wherein the plurality of users canasynchronously play back each of the plurality of video objects.
 6. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the plurality of video processors processvideo objects to produce signals that are reproduced into videoinformation and wherein the video processors also provide a storagedevice processing function for the clustered video system.
 7. The methodof claim 1 wherein the local storage device of each of the videoprocessor systems stores information across the local storage device ina redundant manner.
 8. The method of claim 7 wherein the local storagedevice of each of the video processors stores information across thedevice in a RAID protocol.
 9. The method of claim 7 wherein the localstorage device of each of the video processors stores information acrossthe device in a RAID-5 protocol.
 10. The method of claim 1 whereinduring reading of the video object a failure of one of the processorscauses at least one of the remaining processors to reconstruct the videoobject from a redundant representation of the video object.
 11. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the video object that is distributed acrossthe plurality of video processor systems corresponds to a plurality ofblocks stored on the local storage devices of the video processorsystems.
 12. The method of claim 11 wherein the video object that isdistributed across the plurality of video processor systems is comprisedof file fragments which correspond to a plurality of blocks stored onthe local storage devices of the video processor systems.
 13. The methodof claim 1 further comprising distributing data for a plurality of videoobjects to the local storage devices of all of the plurality of videoprocessor systems.
 14. The method of claim 1 further comprisingdistributing data for the video object in a redundant manner to thelocal storage devices associated with the plurality of video processorsystems.
 15. The method of claim 14 wherein distributing data in aredundant manner includes distributing different data to different localstorage devices.
 16. The method of claim 1 further comprising assemblingthe video object at a first processor system of the plurality of videoprocessor systems.
 17. The method of claim 16 wherein assembling thevideo object includes producing a byte stream representing the videoobject.
 18. The method of claim 17 wherein producing the byte streamincludes producing an MPEG video stream.
 19. The method of claim 1further comprising enabling reconstruction of the video object uponfailure of any one of the plurality of video processor systems.
 20. Themethod of claim 19 wherein the reconstruction is enabled at any one ofthe plurality of video processor systems other than the failed processorsystem.
 21. The method of claim 19 wherein reconstruction of the videoobject includes: reconstructing the video object at a first videoprocessor system of the plurality of video processor systems; andretrieving from the local storage device of said first video processorsystem data for the video object that was distributed to said localstorage device.
 22. The method of claim 21 wherein reconstruction of thevideo object further includes: receiving from a second video processorsystem of the plurality of video processor systems data for the videoobject that was distributed to the storage device of said second videoprocessor system.
 23. The method of claim 19 wherein reconstruction ofthe video object includes: reconstructing the video object at a firstvideo processor system of the plurality of video processor systems; andreceiving from a second video processor system of the plurality of videoprocessor systems data for the video object that was distributed to thestorage device of said second video processor system.
 24. The method ofclaim 23 wherein receiving data from the second video processor systemincludes receiving said data from a data communication system couplingthe video processor systems.
 25. The method of claim 24 whereinreconstruction of the video object further includes retrieving data fromthe local storage device of the first video processor system withoutpassing said data through the communication system.
 26. The method ofclaim 19 wherein reconstruction of the video object includes receivingfrom at least some of the video processor systems data for the videoobject that was distributed to the local storage devices associated withsaid video processor systems.
 27. The method of any of claims 14 and 15wherein distributing data for the video object includes distributingdata encoding different time portions of the video object to differentones of the local storage devices.
 28. The method of any of claims 14and 15 wherein distributing data for the video object includesdistributing sequential data segments of the video object to differentones of the local storage devices.
 29. The method of any of claims 14and 15 wherein distributing data for the video object includesdistributing sequential 64 kilobyte blocks to different ones of thelocal storage devices.
 30. The method of any of claims 14 and 15 whereindistributing data for the video object includes distributing dataencoding the video object and distributing redundant data for the videoobject.
 31. The method of claim 30 wherein distributing redundant dataincludes computing said redundant data.
 32. The method of claim 30wherein distributing redundant data includes performing computationsaccording to a finite field.
 33. The method of claim 30 whereindistributing redundant data includes computing parity data.
 34. Themethod of claim 30 wherein distributing redundant data includesdistributing said redundant data to more than one of the local storagedevices.
 35. The method of claim 30 wherein distributing redundant dataincludes distributing said data using a RAID approach.
 36. The method ofclaim 35 wherein distributing the data using the RAID approach includesdistributing said data using a RAID-5 approach.
 37. The method of any ofclaims 21, 22 and 25 wherein retrieving data from the local storagedevice includes retrieving said data from a mass storage device.
 38. Themethod of claim 37 wherein retrieving data from a mass storage deviceincludes retrieving the data from a disk storage device.
 39. The methodof claim 38 wherein retrieving the data from a disk storage deviceincludes retrieving said data from a RAID array.
 40. The method of anyof claims 24 and 25 wherein the data communication system includes anEthernet network.
 41. The method of claim 40 wherein the networkincludes separate links, each coupling a different pair of the videoprocessor systems.